How should I prep my spindles?
Question:The spindles on my stairway are semi-glossy white, I want to paint them flat black to mimic the look of iron. (I've seen it before, it looks great) should I try to strip the white paint or just rough up the finish with sand paper?
Answers:
I wouldn't dare to attempt either stripping or sanding them - I believe you'd really be hating your project before you ever got through. What I would recommend is visiting your local Home Depot or Lowes (or whatever is close to you) and having a high adhesion primer tinted to your desired color. Apply this as directed, then follow up with your finish coat. I just had all of my spindles painted, and it was very time consuming and tedious. This job was completed by a professional painter, and he never did any sanding, except on areas that had be roughed up or scarred. I believe you'll be happier in the long run if your project doesn't take days and days of elbow grease! Considering the right primer will help the top coat adhere, I'd definitely plan to skip the stripper and sanding. Good luck!
You can just rough up the finish using 180 grit paper.
stripping is best of course but messy in this situation so Id suggest just roughing with sandpaper make sure you get all the dust off before painting and a good primer wouldnt hurt
Rough it up for best results. But instead of sandpaper, I would recommend using course steel wool. It will work around the spindles much easier than sandpaper.
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